Tools to Delete Temporary Internet Files Across My LAN
While deleting temporary Internet files from a single computer merely requires making an adjustment to the Internet Options control, applying a mass deletion across a Local Area Network, or LAN, requires dabbling with Group Policy. Note that this option only applies to computers that utilize Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows Vista SP1; other operating systems do not have this functionality.
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Temporary Files
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Temporary Internet files serve a vital purpose on Windows-based computers by maintaining a cache of frequently accessed image and text files. While this results in improved page-loading speeds, it also opens the door for a multitude of problems. For example, your browser may ignore updates to a website and instead draw on outdated files within its temporary files folder. In addition, such files could contain confidential personal information, or even viruses or malware.
Group Policy
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The Group Policy architecture of NT operating systems contains rules and configuration settings for websites, domains, organizational units and machines within a particular network. It allows network administrators to manage hundreds and even thousands of computers without having to manually tamper with each specific machine. Not only does it allow you to set up widespread configuration settings, it also makes it much easier to restore an entire network in case of a computer breakdown or disaster.
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Configuring Action
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Windows Server 2008 R2 and Vista SP1 contain two nodes under the Preferences node: a Computer Configuration node and a User Configuration node. These permit you to set up an action for either all network computers or users. The steps for configuring a LAN deletion include choosing the "Delete" action, specifying a universal path to the "Temporary Internet Files" folder and checking the "Delete All Files in the Folder(s)" option.
Specifying a Path
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Windows Vista and XP machines contain different paths to their "Temporary Internet Files" folders. Thus, if your network contains both Vista and XP machines, you must either adjust the organizational unit design of the Active Directory -- place XP systems in one tree and Vista systems in another -- or use the Item-Level Targeting tool to target a particular OS. Given the latter, you'll need to set up two Group Policies.
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